Operation Bite Back: Rod Coronado's War to Save American Wilderness

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Operation Bite Back: Rod Coronado's War to Save American Wilderness

3.84 of 5 stars 3.84 · rating details · 37 ratings · 12 reviews

Rod Coronado was already one of America’s most notorious radical environmentalists when he launched Operation Bite Back, a war on fur farming that left a trail of burned-out labs and farms across the country and made him the subject of an intense, years-long FBI manhunt. Now his legacy has made him part of a legal battle over whether or not radical environmentalists should...more

Hardcover, 320 pages

Published June 23rd 2009 by Bloomsbury USA

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Jul 25, 2011 Kezia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: politics, nonfiction

A must-have for anyone who follows social justice movements, First Nations, environmental or animal rights issues. As a journalist Kuipers maintains appropriate distance from his subjects, only occasionally breaking the 'fourth wall.' Much ground is covered, from the early Earth First!ers to the present-day Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, which classifies animal and environmental activists as domestic terrorists. Some details of his primary subject's life and work are discarded or glossed over,...more

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Jul 28, 2010 Tracy rated it 5 of 5 stars

In the late 1980s and the '90s environmental and animal-rights activist Rod Coronado committed a series of direct actions, mostly targeting university research centers that housed wild animals like mink and coyotes.

Written by Dean Kuipers, a journalist who has followed the animal-rights and environmental movements for decades, "Operation Bite Back: Rod Coronado's War to Save American Wilderness" details Coronado's path from saboteur to arsonist to peaceful Native American activist.

The book is a...more In the late 1980s and the '90s environmental and animal-rights activist Rod Coronado committed a series of direct actions, mostly targeting university research centers that housed wild animals like mink and coyotes.

Written by Dean Kuipers, a journalist who has followed the animal-rights and environmental movements for decades, "Operation Bite Back: Rod Coronado's War to Save American Wilderness" details Coronado's path from saboteur to arsonist to peaceful Native American activist.

The book is a must-read for environmental and animal-rights activists. Regardless where one stands on the use of property destruction within the movements, activists should read the book to learn about the movements' histories and where they are heading -- especially with regard to the terrorism legislation that was created in 1992 in response to Coronado's work and which has since been added upon.

Of course, I don't believe that vandalism or arson should be considered terrorism.

Kuipers notes that the term "eco-terrorist" was coined in 1983 by "Ron Arnold, radical environmentalism's sworn and mortal enemy" who founded the wise-use movement, "a pro-industry backlash against environmental regulation."

Since that time animal-exploitation industries have gotten Congress to pass the Animal Enterprise Protection Act, in 1992, and the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, in 2006. And the 2001 PATRIOT Act targets environmentalists "by defining eco-terrorism as 'the use or threatened use of violence of a criminal nature against innocent victims or property by environmentally-oriented, subnational group for environmental-political reasons, or aimed at an audience beyond the target, often of a symbolic nature.'"

The book also refers to agent provocateurs, with FBI agents infiltrating groups and urging activists to commit crimes.

Most of "Operation Bite Back," though, deals with Coronado's life, his thoughts about animals and their suffering and his direct action.

The scenes of the direct actions -- breaking into and burning buildings -- are suspenseful, and I found myself rooting for Coronado. But after a while I felt he was getting out of control, taking unnecessary risks, becoming addicted to the actions.

And I kept tossing the notion of arson -- and burglary and theft -- back and forth, debating whether it helped or hurt the cause. That's one of the goals of the book, though: to get readers to think about it.

While Kuipers includes interviews from fur farmers and animal experimenters, "Operation Bite Back" is sympathetic to the environmental and animal-rights movements. As I was reading it, I felt odd knowing David Martosko had read this book. I wondered if he was disgusted by passages such as the following or if somewhere in his sarcastic, greedy body he has a heart.

Five of the six [coyotes:] bolted for the hills, but one lingered, standing only a few feet outside the facility. It stood in the darkness looking nervously at Rod. He walked outside and tried to shoo it away, but it only leaped back a few steps and then stood its ground, insistent. Then Rod heard scratching from a part of the kennel he hadn't checked, and he realized there was one more. On the far side of the facility, he found a last occupant and cut it free, and as it bolted through the opened fence, the other wheeled, and together they disappeared into the dark ocean of grass.(less)

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Oct 03, 2009 Derek Emerson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009-books-read

Kuipers' book explores a world known to few, but intensely followed by environmentalists on one hand and the FBI on another. Actually, it is not fair to paint this as an us vs. them book, since the actions of Rod Coronado, the subject of the book, splits even the environmentalists.

Coronado is an environmental activist who eventually began breaking into areas where animals were held and freeing them before burning down research centers. His radical beliefs have made him a folk hero among some, a...more Kuipers' book explores a world known to few, but intensely followed by environmentalists on one hand and the FBI on another. Actually, it is not fair to paint this as an us vs. them book, since the actions of Rod Coronado, the subject of the book, splits even the environmentalists.

Coronado is an environmental activist who eventually began breaking into areas where animals were held and freeing them before burning down research centers. His radical beliefs have made him a folk hero among some, a terrorist to others, and an enigma to still more. Kuipers traces Coronado's life in such a way that we see his eventual criminal acts as a natural development of his ideals. He is raised with a love of nature, but moves from a hunter and fisher to become a vegan devoting his life to saving animals.

Coronado's radical beliefs are fostered early by Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd organization. Along with another member. Coronado sank two whaling boats in Iceland, although they made sure no people were on board at the time. This daring action quickly propelled him to fame and he escaped prosecution since Watson claimed credit to protect the two involved. We then see Coronado's involvement with Earth First! and the Animal Liberation Front, two more aggressive organizations aiming to undermine industries exploiting nature.

Eventually Coronado develops Operation Bite Back, which focused on fur farms and the fur trading industry. The book takes off in Kuipers' descriptions of the operations, which read at times like spy thrillers as Coronado stakes out his targets and avoids detection. Kuipers is clearly an environmentalist himself, and his journalism has focused on this area, which may explain his ability to get so many people to talk about illegal activities. The reader gets a full description of the rationale, the action, and the reactions behind the different attacks.

One of the more interesting aspects of the book surrounds Coronado's "disappearance" from society once the FBI identifies him and his picture begins adorning post office walls. A Native American, Coronado takes the time to begin fully examining his own roots, which not surprisingly support his approach to life. Yet these new experiences lead him to a new understanding of himself and he begins to rethink some of his positions. We also get to see the paranoia which develops in someone who realizes that every new person could be an undercover agent or that a friend may turn him in for a reward. Coronado does not always handle the pressure well, but before he can break the FBI finally captures him.

Coronado's story is also caught up in the political debate of what constitutes terrorism, and after the 9/11 attacks his past actions are viewed in a new light. However, Kuipers paints the FBI as some evil force going after an innocent man, when in fact they are tracking down a multiple arsonist. Agree with Coronado or not, his work clearly fits something which the FBI does track down on a regular basis.

This is a story which has not ended, and Kuipers struggles with how to end the book which tends to fizzle out. Coronado is still actively involved in the animal rights movement, but some of his beliefs have changed. What Kuipers shows very well is that Coronado is a person who acts on his beliefs, but is also all too human. He makes mistakes in his work, in his relationships, and even in how he treats himself. While Kuipers clearly admires his subject, this is no hagiography.

For those unfamiliar with the radical environmental movement, this book will be eye opening and enlightening. For those who are part of that movement, they will find a person to emulate. For those somewhere in between, this book will leave you with more questions than answers, which is always the sign off a good book.(less)

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Aug 11, 2009 Nancy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Nancy by: Goodreads giveaway

Shelves: first-reads, history, nature, oregon, eugene

This is a well researched even handed biography of Rod Coronado and the Animal Liberation Front. There is also some information on activities of the Earth Liberation Front. Dean Kuipers has reported on Coronado and other environmental activists for 18 years and that shows. His access to this movement over a long period of time gives him insights that many biographers lack. Kuipers does not present Coronado as any kind of saint. He reports the actions and emotions of both Coronado and of people w...more

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Nov 15, 2012 Chloe rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: damn-the-man, environment, i-will-not-eat-them-sam-i-am

One of my favorite aspects of being a die-hard bibliophile is finding just the right book to read at the time that I would be most receptive to its subject matter. I received an arc of this book several years ago but, due to the various exigencies of daily living, it sat on my to-read stack untouched and gathering dust until I rediscovered it while cleaning a few weeks back. What a timely rediscovery this was! While it's been said so many times that it has become a cliche, I find a lot of truth...more One of my favorite aspects of being a die-hard bibliophile is finding just the right book to read at the time that I would be most receptive to its subject matter. I received an arc of this book several years ago but, due to the various exigencies of daily living, it sat on my to-read stack untouched and gathering dust until I rediscovered it while cleaning a few weeks back. What a timely rediscovery this was! While it's been said so many times that it has become a cliche, I find a lot of truth in George Santayana's statement that "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." As the movement to address climate change gathers steam and activists once more take to the trees in direct actions to confront those who value profit over the well-being of our landbase, understanding the motives, tactics, successes and failures of those whose footsteps we are following is essential if we are to avoid their mistakes and advance the movement.

When I moved to Eugene, Oregon, at the turn of the century I was a young and naive firebrand from North Idaho whose activism had been honed in the conflicts against the Aryan Nations white supremacists that inhabited my hometown and the logging industry that had kept the region employed since most of the mines had been tapped out. I had first heard of the ALF and ELF through my family's dinner table conversations- my mother had been employed for a time doing worker's compensation evaluations for injured loggers and this was where I had first heard of activists spiking trees to protect the endangered spotted owl in old growth forests. My father was employed by a government agency that had frequently been the target of activists, I remember one night when he had just returned from a round up of wild horses in Utah only to learn that a band of activists had released the herd back into the wild shortly after he had left. Even at my young age I remember being satisfied at this news, thinking that wild creatures deserve to be free and that the land was better off as home to these herds rather than as more grazing land to be stripped by cattle. As I grew older and found myself finding peace among the company of centuries-old trees away from the noise of the city, my resolve to protect these forests solidified and I made myself many promises. Around this time I also became aware of the resistance of environmental activists in Eugene, particularly the action on June 1st, 1997, where activists climbed into a stand of the town's oldest trees that were to be cut down to make way for a new shopping center. My mind was made up, Eugene was where I needed to go to lend myself to these efforts.

What I found when I arrived was a community tearing itself apart with paranoia and fear. Comrades were rotting in prison for refusing to cooperate with grand jury witch hunts (an event that is already happening again here in the Pacific North-West), houses were being raided by the FBI on a regular basis, and no one knew just how far the feds were willing to go to portray the environmental movement as deadly terrorists, despite the fact that in all of their actions the ALF and ELF had never harmed a single human. The specter of the COINTELPRO actions of the seventies hung heavily over everyone. Needless to say, strangers who had just arrived in town asking questions were immediately suspect and my welcome was none too warm. This was the lasting legacy of Rod Coronado and his quest to end fur farming in the United States.

A militant activist who had cut his teeth sinking whaling boats in Iceland for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Coronado was one of the first in the United States to adopt tactics of direct action to protect animal life. After working closely with hunt saboteurs, a tactic in which activists fill the woods during hunting season and harass hunters in order to protect wildlife, Rod turned his attention to the fur industry. First going undercover as a farmer thinking about starting to breed mink, Rod filmed the conditions that mink were raised in and the skinning process for an above-ground group that was trying to use shock video to persuade congressional reps to pass more restrictive legislation. When these efforts yielded nothing but despair, Rod turned to more direct methods, recruiting like-minded activists to destroy research facilities at schools in Oregon, Washington, and Utah, and prompting a backlash from frightened fur farmers whose effects we are still feeling today.

It is easy to paint Coronado as a naive idealist, a man searching for an identity who threw himself into causes to make up for a spiritual emptiness within, and author Dean Kuipers does not hesitate to show Coronado with all of his flaws, but I feel that this only makes the story more compelling. He was one man, flawed yet beautiful, who loved life so much that he was unable to sit idly and see it destroyed. While many of his actions can be derided (Really, dude? Stealing from the Crazy Horse monument on a whim?), none should doubt the passion that he, and many others, have for preserving wild life.

It's sad that his lasting legacy is the expansion of the definition of terrorism to include property destruction to make a political statement, an expansion that is still being used to punish radicals while those who wreak havoc upon the very land that we depend on for survival are heralded as pillars of the community. As resistance becomes more ever-present on the streets of America and we hurtle faster and faster toward what can only be a reckoning between capital and sustainability, it is important to know where we have come from and to know the forces that are arrayed against us. Kuipers' book is a great start.(less)

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Aug 03, 2009 Heather rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

However you may feel about "eco-terrorism" and/or animal rights, this book makes for a very informative read. Kuipers takes us through Coronado's adult life, weaving together Rod's personal, spiritual and activist ethics, while giving a correlating history of the ALF (Animal Liberation Front), PETA, Earth First!, and ELF organizations, among others. We learn about Rod's Yaqui heritage, and his quest to become more connected with it. We learn about the moral rifts within the members of the (above...more However you may feel about "eco-terrorism" and/or animal rights, this book makes for a very informative read. Kuipers takes us through Coronado's adult life, weaving together Rod's personal, spiritual and activist ethics, while giving a correlating history of the ALF (Animal Liberation Front), PETA, Earth First!, and ELF organizations, among others. We learn about Rod's Yaqui heritage, and his quest to become more connected with it. We learn about the moral rifts within the members of the (above) organizations themselves, something which i personally found very illuminating. We go step-by-step with Rod and others during their undercover videotapings of fur farms, as well as a number of live animal releases and the destruction of various (mostly university) laboratories.

There is a heavy sympathy here for the subject; Kuipers is obviously a friend of Rod's and this shows throughout the book. However, it is difficult to read about the 1990 Judi Bari/Darryl Cherney car bombing (as well as the intimidation tactics used by the FBI on their hunt for Rod years later) and not be left with a bitter taste in one's mouth. That being said, there are times during the book when it feels like the author's opinion perhaps takes precedence over the facts.

All in all, there is quite a bit to be learned from reading this book, even if you are already familiar with activism in any of its forms. The characters are colorful, even if their ideologies are sometimes flawed; we begin to understand the passion that drives people to commit such drastic actions, even when faced with the often underwhelming after-effects. There is a real effort here to get to the heart of this decade or so of activism through one complicated but simple man: Rodney Coronado. And yet, i can't help but feel that this should have been either a biography or an all-encompassing activism encyclopedia. The title action, Operation: Bite Back, gets a little buried somewhere along the way. But Coronado is a complex figure, and getting lost in the moral battle between his kind and law enforcement is interesting, indeed.(less)

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Mar 29, 2013 Brian rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

Amazing and inspiring story of Rod Coronado's life of activism on behalf of animals, the earth and his Native American sisters and brothers. Dean Kuipers' writing was top-notch and engaging with just enough detail to help understand both the political and legal issues covered here. The sympathetic bias of the author was --for me-- very appreciated and it made it hard not to cheer when the mink farms burned, lynx and cougar hunts were disrupted, or the animal torture labs were sabotaged. Rod's re...more

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Aug 24, 2009 Kim rated it 4 of 5 stars

Interesting insights into "eco-terrorism" (how can there be terrorism when no people are targets, just property?) and the distinctions between the deep environmental and radical animal rights movements. I really enjoyed this book. Not great, but good summer reading.

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Aug 31, 2009 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

This is a well-written, even-handed discussion of the events of the eco-radical movement, focusing on Rod Coronado's efforts. It was very interesting, informative, and even thrilling. It was a pleasure to read and I learned so much about this incendiary topic that is often thrown to the wayside in political discussions. I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants more than just a 'good read'!

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Aug 08, 2009 Leeann marked it as to-read

08/08/09: Won a copy of this via GR! Pretty exciting! Not sure when I'll get around to it but it certainly looks fascinating.

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Aug 12, 2011 Jeannie rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who is interested in the animal rights movement

Recommended to Jeannie by: won in GR giveway

I won this book in a GR giveaway last year and I'm ashamed to admit it has taken me this long to read it!
This book was right up my alley, animal rights and the movement have always been dear to my heart. I found it very interesting and learned even more than I already knew about this subject. All in all very well written, very informative and eye-opening and a pleasure to read!

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Sep 28, 2009 Kim rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

Not as good as I thought it was going to be. It dose raise some good points but really hard for me to get into. Maybe it just wasn't my kind of book.

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